Page:Bonny lass of Calder Braes (2).pdf/2



Hen cares were few and life was young

On Calder’s braes I danc‘d and sung

Unpain’d by keen remorse’s dart,

Joy flow’d spontaneous from my heart!

To crown the happy mundane scene,

I lov’d—nor did I love in vain,

The theme of all my artless lays.

Was my dear lass of Calder Braes.

Thrice happy days! your loss I mourn;

You’re gone—ah! “never to return:”

Ambition’s ignis fatu s glare

Transform’d my bliss to black despair:

The pomp of war and pride of arms

Appear’d with such resistless charms,

I left to face my country’s faes

My weeping maid on Calder Braes.

In martial conflict first I shone,

In climes below the burning zone,

Beneath eringapatam’s wall,

I saw the tyrant Sultan’s fall

Amidst the carnage of that day,

Where dead and dying round me lay,